Rome
Declaration and World Food Summit Plan of Action, , FAO 1996 See
especially: "COMMITMENT THREE
We will pursue participatory and sustainable food, agriculture, fisheries,
forestry and rural development policies and practices in high and low potential
areas, which are essential to adequate and reliable food supplies at the
household, national, regional and global levels, and combat pests, drought and
desertification, considering the multifunctional character of agriculture.
"

NGO/CSO FORUM for Food Sovereignty
8-13 June 2002

Summary of Decisions by International
Committee

The International NGO/CSO Planning Committee for the WFS:fyl
met in Rome from 3rd to 5th November in FAO.HQ.

The International Committee meeting reviewed action taken so
far regarding both the content of the strategic themes identified by the
Committee on may 2001 and the process of preparation in the regions, and then
proceeded to update the NGO/CSO strategy and workplan. A statement for the FAO
Conference was prepared.

The decisions of the meeting are summarised under the
following headings:

The NGOs/CSOs will focus on a limited
number of issues which are the key to reach WFS goals. Draft position
papers have been prepared on the following strategic issues: right to food,
food sovereignty, alternative models of agriculture, access to productive
resources (land and genetic resources).

The meeting decided that the authors of these papers will
prepare redrafts taking comments received into account.

DECISION 1: Additional papers will be prepared on
access to water, biotechnology and indigenous peoples' rights.

The revised drafts and new papers will be shared with the
regional focal points and finalized by 15 January 2002 so that they can be
discussed at the NGO/CSO Regional Consultations, starting with Africa in early
February.

DECISION 2: At the same time, a "condensed
political paper" will be prepared by a drafting committee to serve as
the basis for NGO/CSO advocacy at the WFS:fyl. This paper will group issues
around three themes:

This document will also be discussed at the Regional
Consultations and will be finalized only at the eve of the Summit.

Preparation
Process

Regional focal points reported on action
taken so far to promote reflection and dialogue at local, national,
sub-regional and regional levels. Progress has been made in ensuring civil
society involvement in official preparation mechanisms. Reports were given on
the NGO/CSO consultations which have taken place in all five regions and in
North America.

With the postponement of the WFS:fyl, the regional
processes that will be taking place over the coming months take on great
importance.

DECISION 3.It is proposed to hold NGO/CSO
Consultations in conjunction with the Regional FAO Conferences in 2002.

The Committee expressed the hope that the General Director
will be available to discuss with the NGOs/CSOs when he attends the Regional
Conferences.

The Regional NGO/CSO Consultations are expected to provide
an occasion for NGOs/CSOs to discuss and comment on the draft NGO/CSO political
paper; to build a dialogue with the members of the governments; to feed in
their comments regarding the draft declaration to the FAO Regional Conferences
and the CFS; to make recommendations regarding on-going cooperation with FAO.

The Committee proposed that the regional NGO/CSO focal
points meet with their counterparts in the FAO Regional Offices over the coming
weeks to plan for these Consultations, and that one of the NGO/CSO focal points
visit the host to make contact with national NGOs and help to set up a host NGO
committee for the Regional Consultation.

The NGOs/CSOs also plan to reinforce consultations and
dialogue at national and sub-regional levels.

The IPC is planning an international consultation for
indigenous people

DECISION 4.Preparatory papers will be
translated/adapted into local languages wherever possible..

Efforts will be made to take advantage of other regional
processes in course, particularly in the context of preparations for the
Johannesburg WSSD

DECISION 5. Existing campaigns on related themes
(moratorium on GMOs, no dumpingetc.) are part of NGO/CSO
preparation effort and need to be supported internationally.

DECISION 6. Media and communication strategies will be
implemented at national, regional and global levels, including preparation of
videos bringing the voices of farmer, women, workers, indigenous peoples'
leaders to the NGO Forum and the Summit.

NGO/CSO
Forum

DECISION 7. The Forum is entitled
"NGO/CSO Forum for Food Sovereignty". It will take place from 8 to
13 June 2002. Some 600 participants will be accredited, nominated by the
regional and constituency focal points of the Committee, according to a quota
system that will ensure balanced representation by regions, types of
organizations, and gender.

The detailed programme of the Forum including its
interaction with the Summit will be developed over the coming months.

DECISION 8. The work of the FORUM will involve
strategic discussions in morning sessions open only to accredited
delegates; thematic workshops on strategic issues, to be organized in
the afternoons both at the Forum and on FAO premises; debate with government
delegations, including in the context of the Multistakeholder Dialogue
which figures in the WFS:fyl programme. The International NGO/CSO Planning for
the WFS:fyl is FAO's civil society interface for the planning and
implementation of this MSD. The International Committee intends to prepare for
the MSD already in the context of the Regional Conferences, so that dialogue
can be built up progressively; information/education activities open to
the public at large.

DECISION 9. The first two days (8-9 June), will be
devoted to finalize the NGO/CSO declaration to be presented to the
WFS:fyl and to take the final decisions on concrete goals and follow-up
proposals, including monitoring of the WFS:fyl decisions and on-going

DECISION 10 The relations with FAO are strategically
important and the dialogue of this past month must be continued.

Decision 11 New members of the IPC have been accepted during
the meeting

Global Forum on Food Sovereignty

Final
Declaration of the World Forum on Food Sovereignty Havana, Cuba, September 7,
2001

For the
peoples' right to produce, feed themselves and exercise their food sovereignty
From September 3 to 7, 2001,
some 400 delegates from peasant and indigenous organizations, fishing
associations, non-governmental organizations, social agencies, academics and
researchers from 60 countries around the world met in Havana, Cuba at the World
Forum on Food Sovereignty.

This Forum was convened in
Cuba by the Cuban National Association of Small Farmers and a group of
international movements, networks, organizations and people committed to
peasant and indigenous agriculture, artisanal fisheries, sustainable food
systems and the peoples' right to feed themselves. It also serves as
recognition of the efforts of a Third World country which, despite suffering
over four decades of the illegal and inhuman blockade imposed by the United
States and the use of food as a weapon of economic and political pressure, has
managed to guarantee the human right to nutrition for all of its population by
way of a coherent, active, participatory and long-term state policy based on
profound agrarian reform, appreciation and support for small and medium-sized
producers, and the participation and mobilization of the entire society.

We gathered to analyze the
reasons why hunger and malnutrition grow every day throughout the world, why
the crisis in peasant and indigenous agriculture, artisanal fisheries and
sustainable food systems has worsened, and why the peoples are losing
sovereignty over their resources. Likewise, we gathered to collectively
develop, from the perspective of the peoples and not the transnational food
corporations, viable proposals, alternatives and strategies for action on a
local, national and global scale, aimed at reversing current trends and
promoting new focuses, policies and initiatives that can guarantee a dignified
and hunger-free present and future for all the men and women of the world.

Five years after the World
Food Summit, seven years after the agricultural agreements of the GATT (now
WTO) Uruguay Round, and following two decades of the application of neoliberal
policies by a large part of governments, the promises and commitments made to
satisfy the food and nutritional needs of all are far from being fulfilled. On
the contrary, the reality is that the economic, agricultural, fishing and trade
policies imposed by the World Bank, IMF and WTO, promoted by the transnational
corporations, have widened the gap between the wealthy and poor countries and
accentuated the unequal distribution of earnings within countries. They have
worsened the conditions of food production and access to healthy and sufficient
nutrition for the majority of the world's peoples, even in the so-called
developed countries.

As a consequence, the most
basic human right of all, the right to food and nutritional well-being
enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is not guaranteed to
the majority of the world's peoples. The sustainability of food systems is not
merely a technical matter. It constitutes a challenge demanding the highest
political will of states.

The profit motive leads to
the unsustainability of food systems by surpassing the limits on production
allowed by nature. The sustainability of food systems is not viable within the
current trade system and the context of liberalization promoted by the WTO and
international financial organizations. The hope for a new millennium free of
hunger has been frustrated, to the shame of all humanity.

The real causes of hunger and
malnutrition Hunger, malnutrition and the exclusion of millions of people from
access to productive goods and resources, such as land, the forests, the seas,
water, seeds, technology and know-how, are not a result of fate, of
happenstance, of geographical location or climatic phenomena. Above all, they
are a consequence of determined economic, agricultural and trade policies on a
global, regional and national scale that have been imposed by the powers of the
developed countries and their corporations for the purpose of maintaining and
increasing their political, economic, cultural and military hegemony within the
current process of global economic restructuring.

In the face of the neoliberal
ideological theories behind these policies: - We affirm that food is not
just another merchandise and that the food system cannot be viewed solely
according to market logic. - We consider as fallacious
the argument that the liberalization of international agricultural and fishing
trade guarantees the people's right to food. - Trade liberalization does not
necessarily facilitate the economic growth and well-being of the population.
- The underdeveloped countries
are capable of producing their own food and could be capable of doing so in the
future. - The neoliberal concept of
comparative advantages severely affects food systems. In keeping with this
concept, the importing of basic food commodities leads to the dismantling of
domestic production, given the possibility of buying them "cheaper"
from the wealthy countries.

This in turn leads to the
reorientation of their productive resources towards export crops that are
"more competitive and have greater value added" for the First World
markets. It is a lie that countries should not be concerned with establishing
and implementing state policies to guarantee food security for their citizens.
Neoliberal theorists argue that the global supermarket of exporter countries
can satisfy any demands with no problems whatsoever. - They try to deceive the
population when they claim that peasant and indigenous farmers and artisanal
fisheries are inefficient and unable to meet the growing needs for food
production. They use this claim in the attempt to impose widescale, intensive
industrial agriculture and fishing. - We denounce as false the
argument that the rural population is overly large in comparison with its
contribution to the gross domestic product. In reality, this reflects an
attempt to brutally expel the rural population from its lands and fishing
communities from the coasts and seas, privatizing natural resources. - We reject the use of
widescale, intensive industrial agriculture and fishing as the means to
confront the world's growing food needs. - They attempt to convince us
that the only alternative for peasants, fishers and indigenous peoples is to
give way to the privatization of their lands and natural resources. This leads,
among other effects, to massive migration to the cities and abroad in order to
expand the supply of cheap labor needed to increase the
"competitiveness" of the dynamic sectors of national economies linked
to exports and transnational corporations. At the same time, unemployment and
the loss of jobs are on the rise in the developed countries. - There is an attempt to
impose the food model of the transnational corporations as the only viable,
appropriate and correct model in a global world. This is veritable food
imperialism, which threatens the diversity of the peoples' food cultures and
their national, cultural and ethnic identities. - In this context, the
hegemonic powers use food as a weapon of political and economic pressure
against sovereign countries and popular resistance movements. - All of the above is taking
place within the framework of the systematic weakening of states and the
promotion of false democracies that systematically disregard the public
interest and real participation of society in general and the rural population
in particular in the discussion, design, adoption, implementation and control
of public policies.

The consequences of neoliberal
policies and the consequences of these false and erroneous policies are
visible: they have increased the sales and profits of the economic powers of
the developed countries, while the peoples of the Third World have seen the
growth of their external debt and heightened levels of poverty, extreme poverty
and social exclusion. The concentration of the international agricultural
market within a number of transnational corporations has been accelerated,
while the dependence and food insecurity of the majority of peoples has
increased.

There continue to be heavy
subsidies for export agriculture and fishing, at the same time that many
governments provide absolutely no protection for small and medium-sized
producers who produce mainly for the domestic market. Policies of production
and export subsidies in the developed countries allow the transnationals to
acquire products at very low prices and sell them at much higher prices to
consumers in both the South and the North. Neoliberal policies towards the
countryside have in fact promoted a process of forced deruralization of vast
proportions and dramatic consequences, a genuine war against peasant and
indigenous agriculture, which in some cases has come to constitute veritable
genocide and ethnicide. Artisanal fishing communities have been increasingly
losing access to their own resources.

As a result of neoliberal
policies, hunger and malnutrition are growing, not because of an absence of
food, but rather because of an absence of rights. We are witnesses of examples
that allow us to assert that the eradication of hunger and malnutrition and the
exercise of lasting and sustainable food sovereignty are possible. Likewise, we
have seen in practically every country countless examples of sustainable and
organic food production in peasant and indigenous communities and sustainable
and diversified management of rural areas. In view of the foregoing, the
participants in the World Forum on Food Sovereignty declare:

1. Food sovereignty is the
means to eradicate hunger and malnutrition and to guarantee lasting and
sustainable food security for all of the peoples. We define food sovereignty as
the peoples' right to define their own policies and strategies for the
sustainable production, distribution and consumption of food that guarantee the
right to food for the entire population, on the basis of small and medium-sized
production, respecting their own cultures and the diversity of peasant, fishing
and indigenous forms of agricultural production, marketing and management of
rural areas, in which women play a fundamental role. 2. Food sovereignty fosters
the economic, political and cultural sovereignty of the peoples. 3. Food sovereignty recognizes
agriculture involving peasants, indigenous peoples and fishing communities with
links to the territory; primarily oriented towards the satisfaction of the
needs of the local and national markets; agriculture whose central concern is
human beings; agriculture which preserves, values and fosters the
multifunctionality of peasant and indigenous forms of production and management
of rural areas. Likewise, food sovereignty entails the recognition and
appreciation of the economic, social, environmental and cultural advantages of
small-scale, family-based, peasant and indigenous agriculture. 4. We consider the recognition
of the rights, autonomy and culture of indigenous peoples in all countries as
an imperative requisite for combating hunger and malnutrition and guaranteeing
the right to food for the population. Food sovereignty implies the recognition
of the multi-ethnicity of nations and the recognition and appreciation of the
identities of aboriginal peoples. This implies, as well, the recognition of
autonomous control of their territories, natural resources, systems of
production and management of rural areas, seeds, knowledge and organizational
forms. In this sense, we support the struggles of all of the indigenous peoples
and peoples of African descent in the world, and demand full respect for their
rights. 5. Food sovereignty further
implies the guarantee of access to healthy and sufficient food for all
individuals, particularly for the most vulnerable sectors, as an imperative
obligation for national governments and the full exercise of civil rights.
Access to food should not be viewed as a form of assistance from governments or
of charity from national or international public or private entities. 6. Food sovereignty implies
the implementation of radical processes of comprehensive agrarian reform
adapted to the conditions of each country and region, which will provide
peasant and indigenous farmers - with equal opportunities for women - with
equitable access to productive resources, primarily land, water and forests, as
well as the means of production, financing, training and capacity building for
management and interlocution. Agrarian reform, above all, should be recognized
as an obligation of national governments where this process is necessary within
the framework of human rights and as an efficient public policy to combat
poverty. These agrarian reform processes must be controlled by peasant
organizations - including the land rents market - and guarantee both individual
and collective rights of producers over shared lands, as articulated in
coherent agricultural and trade policies. We oppose the policies and programs
for the commercialization of land promoted by the World Bank instead of true
agrarian reforms accepted by governments. 7. We support the proposal put
forward by civil society organizations in 1996, calling for states to draw up a
code of conduct on the human right to adequate food, to effectively serve as an
instrument for the implementation and promotion of this right. The peoples'
right to food is included in the Declaration of Human Rights and was ratified
at the World Food Summit in Rome in 1996 by the member states of the United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).8. We propose the most rapid
ratification possible and application by a larger number of countries of the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted by the
United Nations General Assembly in 1966.9. In defense of the principle
of the people's inalienable right to food, we propose the adoption by the
United Nations of an International Convention on Food Sovereignty and
Nutritional Well-Being, which should rule over decisions adopted in the fields
of international trade and other domains. 10. International food trade
should be subordinated to the supreme purpose of serving human beings. Food
sovereignty does not mean autarchy, full self-sufficiency or the disappearance
of international agricultural and fishing trade. 11. We oppose any interference
by the WTO in food, agriculture and fishing and its attempt to determine
national food policies. We categorically oppose its agreements on intellectual
property rights over plants and other living organisms, as well as its
intention to carry out a new round of negotiations (the so-called Millennium
Round) including new themes for negotiation. Keep the WTO out of food. 12. We propose the creation of
a new democratic and transparent order for the regulation of international
trade, including the creation of an international appeals court independent of
the WTO and the strengthening of UNCTAD as a forum for multilateral
negotiations on fair food trade. At the same time, we propose the promotion of
regional integration schemes among producers' organizations, unrelated to
neoliberal goals and parameters. 13. We demand an immediate end
to dishonest practices that establish market prices below production costs and
provide subsidies for production and exports. 14. We oppose the FTAA, which
is nothing more than a hegemonic strategic plan developed by the United States
to consolidate its control over Latin America and the Caribbean, expand its
economic borders, and guarantee itself a large captive market. 15. We support the demands
made by peasant and social organizations in Mexico for the suspension of the
NAFTA agreements concerning agriculture. 16. Genetic resources are the
result of millennia of evolution and belong to all of humanity. Therefore,
there should be a prohibition on biopiracy and patents on living organisms,
including the development of sterile varieties through genetic engineering
processes. Seeds are the patrimony of all of humanity. The monopolization by a
number of transnational corporations of the technologies to create genetically
modified organisms (GMOs) represents a grave threat to the peoples' food
sovereignty. At the same time, in light of the fact that the effects of GMOs on
health and the environment are unknown, we demand a ban on open
experimentation, production and marketing until there is conclusive knowledge
of their nature and impact, strictly applying the principle of precaution.
17. It is necessary to promote
widespread dissemination and appreciation of the agricultural history and food
culture of every country, while denouncing the imposition of food models alien
to the food cultures of the peoples. 18. We express our
determination to integrate the goals of nutritional well-being into national
food policies and programs, including local productive systems, promoting their
diversification towards foods rich in micronutrients; to defend the quality and
safety of foods consumed by populations; and to fight for the right of all
individuals to information on the foods they consume, by stepping up
regulations on food labels and the content of food-related advertising,
exercising the principle of precaution. 19. Food sovereignty should be
founded on diversified systems of production, based on ecologically sustainable
technologies. It is essential to develop initiatives for sustainable food
production and consumption generated at the local level by small producers,
with the establishment of public policies that contribute to building
sustainable food systems around the world. 20. We demand the justly
deserved appreciation of peasant, indigenous and fishing communities for their
sustainable and diversified management of rural areas, through appropriate
prices and incentive programs. 21. When addressing the
problem of food on a worldwide scale, we must take into account the cultural
diversity that leads to different local and regional contexts, because the
protection of the environment and biodiversity are closely related to the
recognition of cultural diversity. 22. The development of
sustainable food systems must include nutritional considerations, such as the
demand for the regulation of the handling of agrotoxins. 23. We recognize and
appreciate the fundamental role played by women in the production, harvesting,
marketing and preparation of the products of agriculture and fishing and in
passing on the food cultures of the peoples. We support the struggles waged by
women for access to productive resources, and for their right to produce and
consume local products. 24. Artisanal fishers and
their organizations will not relinquish their rights to free access to fishing
resources and the establishment and protection of reserve areas for the
exclusive use of artisanal fishing methods. Likewise, we demand recognition of
ancestral and historic rights over the coasts and inland waters. 25. Food aid policies and
programs must be reviewed. They should not be an inhibiting factor for the
development of local and national food production capacities, nor should they
foster dependence, the distortion of local and national markets, corruption, or
the dumping of foods that are harmful to health, particularly with regard to
GMOs. 26. Food sovereignty can only
be achieved, defended and exercised through the democratic strengthening of
states and the self-organization, initiative and mobilization of all of
society. It requires long-term state policies, an effective democratization of
public policies, and the development of a solidarity-based social setting.
27. We condemn the U.S. policy
of blockading Cuba and other peoples and the use of food as a weapon of
economic and political pressure against countries and popular movements. This
unilateral policy must end immediately. 28. Food sovereignty is a
civil concept that concerns society as a whole. For this reason, social
dialogue should be open to all the social sectors involved. 29. Achieving food sovereignty
and eradicating hunger and malnutrition are possible in all countries and for
all peoples. We express our determination to continue struggling against
neoliberal globalization, maintaining and increasing active social
mobilization, building strategic alliances and adopting firm political
decisions. 30. We agree to launch a call
for intensive activity and widespread mobilization around the following focuses
of struggle: * Declaring October 16 as
World Food Sovereignty Day, known until now as World Food Day. * Demanding that the World
Food Summit Five Years Later go ahead as planned from November 5 to 10 of this
year, and that the FAO fully assume its mandate and responsibility. Social
organizations should organize events at the national and continental level to
promote their proposals and pressure official delegations. * Demanding that the Italian
government fully respect the freedom to demonstrate and refrain from repressing
social movements opposed to neoliberal globalization. * Participating in and
mobilizing around the WTO Ministerial Meeting, to be held in Qatar from
November 9 to 13, 2001; the Hemispheric Conference Against the FTAA, to be held
in Havana from November 13 to 16, 2001; and the 2nd World Social Forum, to be
held in Porto Alegre from January 31 to February 6, 2002. Done at the
International Conference Center in Havana, Cuba on September 7, 2001 Keep the
WTO out of food Another world is possible

Fidel Castro at
the World Food Summit, 1996

What will be his evaluation in 2002? There are still 800m malnourished
people and more than 30,000 die daily. Hunger stalks the planet and famines
strike with impunity. Reflecting on what Castro asked world leaders in at the
World Food Summit in 1996, has society tried to eradicate hunger, is it still
collectively ignorant or just foolish?

Reflect on this. Despite the rhetoric of dozens of powerful world leaders
in 1996 about addressing hunger, Cuba is the only country to have done
something about it. It has instituted a radically different food and
agriculture policy, based on agroecological principles. Hundreds of thousands
of people have been trained to grow food organically. The health of their
peoples and country has improved dramatically.

This is what Castro said in 1996.

The following is a speech given by
president Fidel Castro Ruz, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of Cuba, at the World Food Summit, held at the headquarters of
the Food and Agricultural Organization, Rome, November 16, 1996.

(From Granma Internet
#18, November 19, 1996)

Mr. President,
Mr. Director-General of the FAO,
Your Excellencies:

Hunger, the inseparable companion of the poor, is the result of the unequal
distribution of wealth and of the injustices of this world. The rich do not
know hunger.

Colonialism was no stranger to the underdevelopment and poverty that today
is suffered by a large part of humanity. Nor are the offensive opulence or the
extravagances of the consumer societies of the former metropolises which
exploited a large part of the countries of the Earth. Fighting against hunger
and injustice, millions of people have died.

What bandages are we to apply so that within 20 years there are 400
million, instead of 800 million, starving people? These goals, if only for
their modesty, are shameful.

If 35,000 people starve to death each day, half of them children, why is it
that in developed countries olive groves are uprooted, flocks sacrificed, and
great sums are paid so the land will not produce?

While the world is logically moved when accidents, natural and social
disasters occur, killing hundreds or thousands of people, why isn't it moved in
the same way in the presence of this genocide that takes place every day right
before our eyes? Intervention forces are being organized to prevent the deaths
of hundreds of thousands of people in eastern Zaire. What will we do to prevent
one million people from dying of starvation every month in the rest of the
world?

It is capitalism, neoliberalism, the laws of a savage market, foreign debt,
underdevelopment and unequal terms of trade that are killing so many people in
the world.

Why do we invest 700 billion dollars each year in military expenditures,
and we do not invest a part of these resources in combatting hunger; soil
deterioration; desertification; the deforestation of millions of hectares each
year; global warming; the greenhouse effect, which increases the hurricanes,
causes a lack of or excess rainfall; the destruction of the ozone layer and
other natural phenomena that affect food production and the life of people on
Earth?

Water is contaminated, the atmosphere is poisoned, nature is being
destroyed. It is not only the scarcity of investments, the lack of education
and technology, accelerated population growth; because the environment is
deteriorating and the future is being compromised more and more every day.

Why are we producing more and more sophisticated weapons since the end of
the cold war? What are these arms for, except to dominate the world? Why is
there fierce competition to sell arms to underdeveloped countries, since they
won't make them stronger in the defense of their independence and since hunger
is what we must kill?

Why, on top of all this, are there criminal policies and absurd blockades,
which include food and medicine, to kill an entire nation through hunger and
disease? Where are ethics, justifications, respect for the most elemental human
rights, the sense in such policies?

Let truth reign, not hypocrisy and lies. Let us be conscious of the fact
that in this world, hegemony, arrogance and selfishness must cease.

The bells that toll today for those who die of hunger each day, will toll
tomorrow for all of humanity if it doesn't try to save itself, doesn't know how
to save itself, or is not wise enough to save itself.